LAHORE: A Lahore High Court division bench on Wednesday suspended sentence of a Jaranwala lawyer who was convicted of injuring a civil judge by hitting him with a wooden chair and released him on bail.

The bench headed by Justice Syed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi directed the convicted lawyer to submit two surety bonds of Rs200,000 each before the trial court.

An anti-terrorism court of Faisalabad had awarded a collective imprisonment of 18 years to Advocate Imran Manj under section 7 of Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 and other sections of the Pakistan Penal Code.

The convict had attacked Civil Judge Khalid Mahmood for not extending him favour in a personal criminal case. The injured judge was shifted to hospital for treatment.

Advocate Burhan Moazam Malik represented the appeal and argued that fundamentals of justice had been seriously compromised by the trial court while handing down the impugned punishment. He said the conviction was beyond the facts of the incident and urged the bench to suspend the conviction of the lawyer till decision of the appeal.

The lawyers in Punjab had been protesting against the conviction of their colleague.

Published in Dawn, June 13th, 2019